We took a Fjords boat tour and got to see glaciers and a lot of sea life! We got to Seward around 10 and our boat was scheduled to leave at 11:30. They had a lot for us to park the RV and offered a shuttle, but we opted for the 20 minute walk to the office.
Before we set sail, Andreas got coffee but made the mistake of not getting the $9 travel mug. The mug was refillable with coffee, hot cocoa or tea throughout the 6 hour cruise. When you’re cruising at 25 knots, standing on the outer deck for a while will definitely make you want something warm to drink when you step back inside.
Right as we left, we were almost greeted by a bald eagle perching on a pillar until he was scared off by the sound of a train horn.
As we went, we saw other sea birds: mostly puffins and murres. Puffins are only around the coastline during the summer months to nest. The rest of their time is spent way off shore. Murres dive up to 600 feet deep to catch food but are more likely to spending time near the coastline.
We saw plenty of sea lions hanging out on the shore, sunning themselves.
And a few sea otters lounging around on the water.
The most impressive of the fauna were certainly the orcas. We came across a large group, including multiple pods who were all moving away from shore in close proximity to each other, The captain even managed to get a little bit ahead if a group in such a way that one of the whales swam right under the bow of the ship.
The highlight, and main attraction was Aialik Glacier, a tidewater glacier. Seeing a wall of ice slowly dumping ice into the water because It is moving about 7 feet per day and hearing the loud echos of even the smallest chuck is truly something to behold. It’s easy to see when you’re up close and personal how, given time, these glaciers shape the landscape they’re on.
After the cruise, we wanted to get our stamp but the visitor center was already closed! Luckily a lady with the same goal spotted a ranger heading into the center and asked if he would be willing to bring the stamp out. He was happy to oblige!
On our way out of Seward the next day, we made a stop by Exit Glacier, the part of the park you can actually drive to. The center there closed for the season two days before we arrived, but luckily there were still some hikes to do. The easiest of these was closed off due to bear activity! We went up to the glacier overlook. It was pretty apparent that this trail had been named some time ago because the glacier was still quite a ways uphill from the overlook.
The park had signs marking where the glacier extended to all the way back to 1815., which was quite a way up the road. While the glacier has been in retreat since then, the pace it has been moving recently was quite staggering. To read more about the retreating exit glacier, check out this article.
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